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(No Model.)

L. MILLER 80 M. L. WRIGHT.

THILL COUPLING. No. 388,144. Patented Aug. 21, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LE\VIS MILLER AND MAURICE L. \VRIGHT, OF MEXICO, NEW YORK.

THlLL-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388,144, dated August 21, 1888.

Application filed March 24, 1888. Serial No. 268,327. (No nlfliii 1.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LEwIs B'IILLER and MAURIcE L. WRIGHT, of'Mexico. in the county of Oswego, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Thill- Couplings, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the class of thillcouplings in which the shackle eye of the thilliron is composed of two parts, one of which is integral with the thill'iron and the other is hinged to the rigid part, and a clamp holds the hinged part in its closed position; and the invention has more particularly reference to the thill-coupling for which we have jointly obtained Letters Patent of the United States, I

No. 376,606, dated January 17, 1888.

Our present improvements consist, mainly, in an improved construction of latch carrying the bail by which the hinged eye section is held in its closed position, said improved latch being formed with a rearwardly-extending guard, which embraces the rear of the hinged portion of the shacklecye, and is extended below the axleclip when the thills are raised into a position to hitch the horse thereto, said guard being then in such proximity to the axle-clip as to prevent its being raised, and thus the latch is securely locked in its position, said latch being also provided with a thumb piece to facilitate the manipulation thereof; and our improvements also consist in novel means of affording to the locking hail the required elasticity, all as hereinafter fully described, and specifically set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation and partly a vertical transverse section ofa thill-coupling embodying our improvements, and Fig. 2 is a detached side view of the thill-iron with its shackle-eye and auxiliary devices connected therewith.

A represents the front axle of a vehicle; 13, the axle-clip from which the shaft-shackle 0 projects. Said shaft'shackle may be either of the form of a rectangular horizontal eye projecting from the front of the clip-tie, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, or consist of cars projecting from the front of the clip proper and provided with transverse eyes for the reception of the coupling-holt in the ordinary and well known manner. \Vhen formed as shown in the drawings, the front cross-bar, 1', of the shackle constitutes the coupling-bolt.

I denotes the thill-iron, which we form with the rigid eye-section a, to the rear portion of which we hinge the eye section a, as heretofore. The latter is formed with the forwardlyproiccting tongue I), which lies closely to the under side of the thill-iron when the shackleeye section a is in its closed position, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings.

Z denotes the latch, which is hinged to the top of the thill iron at its juncture with the eye-section a, and c is the bail, which is hung on the latch and adapted to embrace the tongue b, so as to conline the same in the aforesaid position. The point of connection of the bail with thelatch is in such a position in relation to the pivot of the latch and hold of the bail on the tongue I) as to cause the bail to draw the latch down onto the top of the eye section a when the eye is closed.

In order to allow the latch to be swung into the aforesaid position with the bail engaged with the tongue I), said bail requires a certain degree of elasticity, which we heretofore afforded by bending the bail into coils, which served as springs. Such construction, however, renders the bail clumsy and expensive to manufacture, and we therefore now construct said bail of a plain rectangular form, and provide the under side of the tongue Z) with a recess, 1', in which we place a rubber cushion, (2, on which the bail bears when in position for holding the latch in its closed posi tion. The free end of the latch we form with a rearwardly extended and downwardlyourved tongue 5, which extends between the rear of the eye-sections a a and axle-clip and below the latter, and embraces the hinged end of the eye-section a when the thill is raised into a position for hitching the horse thereto. The proximity of the free end of the tongue 15 to the inner face of the eye in the clip-tie or shackle C effectually prevents the said tongue from being raised, and thus said tongue serves as a safety-guard to prevent accidental detach ment of the thill from the axle. To facilitate the manipulation of this peculiarly shaped latch and guard combined we form the same with a thumhpiecc, f, as shown. Around the coupling-pin i we place the usual bushing, 0, of either leather or rubber or other suitable material, to guard against rattling.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A thill-coupling composed of a shackleeye formed in two sections, one of which is rigidly attached to or integral with the thilliron and the other section hinged to the rigid section, a clamp for holding the hinged eyesection in its closed position, and a safetyguard connected to the thill-iron and adapted to embrace the said hinged eye section, as set forth.

2. In combination with the axle clip and shaft-shackle projecting therefrom, the thilliron I, formed with the rigid eye-section a, the eye-section a, hinged on the rear portion of the rigid eye-section and formed with the forwardly-pi'ojecting tongue I), and the latch Z, hinged on the thill-iron and formed with the rearwardly-projectiug guard 2, extending be tween the rear of the eye-sections a a and axleclip and below the said clip, substantially as described and shown.

3. In combination with the thill-iron I, formed with the eye-section a, the eye-section a, hinged on the section a, and having the forwardly-projecting tongue I) provided with the recess 1, and the latch l, hinged to the thilliron, the bail 0, connected to the said latch and adapted to enter into the recess 1', and the rubber cushion a, seated in said recess, substantially as described and shown.

4. In combination with the thilliron I, formed with the rigid eye-section a, and the eye-section a, hinged on the rear portion of the rigid eye section and formed with the forwardly-projecting tongue I), the latch Z, hinged to the thill-iron and formed with the thumb piece f and with the rearwardly extending guard t, embracing the rear portions of the eye-sections a a, and the bail a, connected to the latch and embracing the tongue b,-substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto signed our names, in the presence of two witnesscs, at the village of Mexico, in the county of Oswego, in the State of New York, this 17th day of March, 1888.

LEwIs MILLER. [n s.]

MAURICE L. WRIGHT. [L. s] \Vitnesses:

CHARLES R. COPP, HERBERT L. MILLER. 

